Author: Heather Lea Campbell

A story about an 8th grade boy

junior high ministry, lessons, youth ministry

In my last post I talked about sharing stories of hope. So here’s a nice one for you–

In our church we teach Confirmation in 7th grade (which, for my evangelical friends: Confirmation is a “coming of age” process where students affirm the vows made at their baptism by their parents to raise them in faith, and then pledge to own their faith as their own).  One of the crazy things about Confirmation is that people come out of the woods for the process: while a class could average 25 in 6th grade, it can average 45 in 7th grade. It’s kind of insane. And one of the big problems with Confirmation in our church–and others–is that after Confirmation, that number typically goes down dramatically–to 15 students weekly.

Lots of smart minds have put their heads together trying to figure out why there’s such a big drop-off after Confirmation, but no one really has tons of answers. And that’s sad, because I love my church and think it’s exactly what a teenager needs as they go through puberty and get a car and question their entire existence before they go off to college. So, I got creative and tried to figure out: How can we keep kids after Confirmation? But there was another question: What do students need after Confirmation? And since we do Confirmation in 7th grade, we ask: What doe an 8th grader need? 

We identified that an appropriate response to Confirming your faith would be to discover your Spiritual Gifts. This makes perfect sense for the 8th grade year, since ending middle school and entering high school brings about several questions of identity: Who am I? What am I good at? What do I have to offer the world?

Of course, there are no year-long courses on Spiritual Gifts (and especially not for students). And my colleagues thought I’d be crazy to talk about this for an entire year with middle schoolers. Will they care? Are they going to get bored? Shouldn’t we talk about stuff they want to talk about? 

What we realized was: this is kinda perfect. But we also decided to make sure that an 8th grader has a way of practicing their spiritual gifts as they are learning about them. So, I did several steps:

  • We used the Spiritual Gifts assessment and resources by LeaderTreks
  • I split the 15 gifts into 5 categories
  • Each of the 5 categories is a “unit”
  • At the end of the unit, we practice the gift in a hands-on way
  • (yes, I’ll go into this more into detail later. Shoot, I might even market this jank or give it away for free)

This month we did our unit on “Teachers” and focused on the gifts of Teaching, Evangelizing, and Mentoring/Pastoring. For the end of the unit, the 8th graders took over The Modge, our program for 5th & 6th graders. I decided to ask an 8th grade student to teach that day, and then have their peers lead Small Groups.

Who to ask? The class clown, obviously. Last year in 7th grade, Bob (not his name) would purposely troll the class. He was the kid that would shout things out, that would put silly questions in our “Ask Anything” jar, and who would be generally obnoxious. One leader even asked me if he could not be in his small group, because he can overwhelm things in a group setting.

But y’all. I believe in chaos. And when I got Bob’s gifts assessment back at the beginning of the year and saw Leadership, Speaking Out (prophecy), and Pioneering (apostleship). I squealed. I knew it. I knew this kid was a leader.

And last month as I was teaching the lesson Evangelism, Bob shouted out “Heather, you want me to teach today?” And I laughed. And then I thought, “No, this boy should be teaching something.”

So I emailed his parents. And got his cell phone number. And talked to his dad. And told my leaders. And everyone thought it was equally crazy and equally possible that this could be the most brilliant thing to happen to our ministry. Maybe this could change things. Maybe this could solve our concerns about retention. Maybe this could just work.

And after meeting with him twice, high-fiving him 57 times, and handing over the stage? It did. It was amazing. At one point I took my eyes off of him to look around the room at all my leaders–who were all in awe with their mouths agape and grinning from ear-to-ear.

And when I asked his peers afterwards what they thought–they were impressed that their friend had the bravery to stand in a room full of almost 80 people.

Here’s another thing I love about this story: Bob’s lesson was on the shepherds at Jesus’s birth. The bottom line for the lesson was that God can use anybody to share his message with others. That shepherds had a lowly job, but they were visited by angels and given the only invitation to the greatest thing that has ever happened to our world–and then given the job to go share with with others.

Catch that? I didn’t even realize it until he was sharing his “underdog story” that we crafted together: God can use anybody to share his message with others. Even an 8th grade boy.

As for answering what to do after Confirmation, I’m not sure I have the magical answer. But what I walked away from Sunday thinking was, “I want to do this again.” I want to empower another student to lead. I want to see another student proclaim God’s promises from the stage. I want to see another group of students support their friend (even if they initially doubted him). I want to see another parent surprised at their kid’s potential. I want to see more Small Group Leaders rewarded for their investments pastoring these kids.

I want to see more. I need to see more. I crave more now. Because kids like Bob will solve all our problems but, more, they will readjust our hope for the church to be more about transforming lives and less about numbers.

Finding and giving hope

Blogs about Heather

Last week I wrote my first personal blog post in over a year and a half, and the responses I received from it were wildly encouraging! If you missed it, go back to this post and check it out.

In that post I poured out my heart and the experiences I’ve had over the past few years, specifically, coping with the longing for reconnection with my father. I’ve had so many people text me, call me, and hug me at church with the words, “you’re so brave” and “I want you in my life” and “I had no idea” and “I’m proud of you.” And y’all, while I don’t want to deny how hard I worked to be who I am today, I can’t help but think two things:  “You should have met me before” and “This is all because of Jesus.”

And one day I’ll write about who I was before Jesus got a hold of my heart and set me on a new path. Preview: mostly a hot mess.

But today I just want to talk about hope. Because when I think about who I was and who I am, I cling to that word: hope.

Our church’s motto/mission statement is to “find and give hope.” I think that sums up our purpose as followers of Christ: to figure out where our hope comes from, and then to share it with others.

But more specifically: Our mission is to realize that our hope comes from Creator God who loves us and provides us with a hope we cannot explain otherwise. In my story, it’s “easy” to identify where the hope came from: when I was neglected by my family and rejected by people who couldn’t identify with me, the Church provided for me and equipped me to be a leader. I can’t explain my story without explaining God.

How is that true for your story? What part of your story can you not explain without explaining God? That is your hope.

And the thing is, once you identify where your hope comes from, you realize that this hope is not your own. And when you can’t explain your source of hope as anything else other than supernatural, you realize the necessity to share it with others.

So as I think about blogging again, I think that’s my mission: to find hope and to share it. Because the truth is, I need to remember to hope. And in the climate that we currently find our world in, I’m sure you can use a little more hope too.

So share your hope with me, too.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Introducing: Letters to the Church

curriculum, Resources, youth ministry, Youth Specialties

Hi all! A few years ago, as I was writing the New Testament year for our middle school ministry’s rotation, I realized that there were no series out there on the Epistles. None. Nada. There are stories on Galatians, or Corinthians, or Philippians, but none that highlight each book and some of their core teachings.

So I wrote my own.

Introducing: Letters to the Church, on Youth Specialties! You can purchase a 6-week series for just $17. This is my first curriculum with my very own name on it (I wrote for YM360’s The Thread a few years back). I’m pretty proud of it, and I hope you find it to be original and helpful!

25 Christmas Activity Ideas

Youth Worker Journal

I compiled a list of ideas for service projects, games, events, and more–enough for each day of Christmas.I’ve used all of these ideas in some way over the last six years, both in small groups and large groups. I combine many ideas into our yearly Overnighter, and plan to use them this month!

Check out the post over at YouthWorker Journal! http://www.youthworker.com/25-christmas-activity-ideas/

Welcoming New Students

Youth Worker Journal

It’s a new school year, which means that lots of families are checking out new churches for their teenagers.

We used to not be very good at welcoming new visitors or friends brought by our students, but since we’ve made some simple changes, we’re seeing a changed atmosphere and a new passion for inviting.

Read more about the changes we made over at YouthWorker Journal: http://www.youthworker.com/welcoming-new-students/

When Teens are Gay (and it’s okay)

Youth Specialties

I grew up in one of the most conservative denominations in the United States, and it took a long journey to come to include and affirm people who are different from me.

One of the people groups who I now embrace and love is the LGBTQ+ community. Most Christians still put this community at lengths; but after being in community with gay Christians, my heart has been changed. I had the opportunity to share this view on YouthSpecialties, who had never had this progressive view shared. I was honored and scared out of my mind. I’d love for you to read that article here.